On Wednesday, March 27th, more than 400 students and faculty attended a lecture sponsored by Discourse in Democracy, featuring Dr. Brandon Rottinghaus of the University of Houston. Entitled “Do Presidential Scandals (Still) Matter? White House Scandals and Accountability in a Partisan Era,” Dr. Rottinghaus spoke about the various presidential scandals that have happened over the course of American history, how to differentiate a scandal from misunderstandings or misinformation, and how scandals could potentially shape future presidencies.
Brandon Bain, a graduate student who attended the event, said that “the lecture was insightful and interesting. Dr. Rottinghaus shared a lot of data about scandals and what era of American history housed the most, as well as the projected trajectory of presidential scandals. He was very knowledgeable on the subject and I enjoyed the Q&A session after the presentation as well.”
In addition to the lecture, Dr. Rottinghaus hosted a seminar for around 20 undergraduate and graduate students. The seminar was dedicated to ongoing research being conducted by Dr. Rottinghaus and two of his colleagues about the geographic politics of congressional district office locations.
Dr. Rottinghaus holds a Ph.D. in political science from Northwestern University. His books include The Dual Executive: Unilateral Orders in a Separated and Shared Power System (Stanford University Press), The Institutional Effects of Executive Scandals (Cambridge University Press), and The Provisional Pulpit: Modern Presidential Leadership of Public Opinion (Texas A&M University Press). He is also the co-founding designer of the Presidential Proclamations Project at the University of Houston, an online resource documenting presidential use of unilateral powers through executive proclamation. He has provided commentary on national and Texas politics in hundreds of media outlets including The New York Times, The Washington Post, Politico, The Houston Chronicle, The Dallas Morning News, and Texas Tribune.
